Competitive light athletic game with soft, compact, orbiting ball



July 25, 1967 D. v. FROS 3,332,386

COMPETITIVE LIGHT ATHLE GAME WITH SOFT, COMPACT, ORBITING BALL Filed May 21, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 [AWE/V702 DOUGLAS HI. F205 T July 25, 1967 0. v. FROST 3,332,686

COMPETITIVE LI T ATHLETIC GAME WITH SOFT, COMP ORBITING BALL Filed May 21, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOQ DOUGLAS 1 F2057 July 25, 1967 3,332,686

0. V. FROST COMPETITIVE LI T ATHLETIC GAME WITH SOFT, COMP ORBITING BALL Filed May 21, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 nvvE/vroe DOUGLAS M F206 T United States Patent 3,332,686 COMPETITIVE LIGHT ATHLETIC GAME WITH SOFT, COMPACT, ORBITING BALL Douglas V. Frost, Waukegan, Ill. (48 High St., Brattleboro, Vt. 05301) Filed May 21, 1965, Ser. No. 457,871 The portion of the term of the patent subsequent to Nov. 15, 1982, has been disclaimed 2 Claims. (Cl. 27395) This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 138,319 filed Sept. 15, 1961, now patent No. 3,218,073.

My invention relates to games of skill and includes among its objects and advantages the production of a game having the requirements of agility and co-ordination required by such a game as table tennis, combined with allowance for a large degree of unpredictability and for very large deviations in the paths of the object to be hit.

In modern sports such as bobsledding, automobile racing, and football, extremely rapid and often unpredictable emergencies occur, which can only be met by response so immediate that no interval of cogitation can be perceived by an observer. There are also many situations where an advance estimate of future events over a period as great as two or three seconds is one primary determinant of success or failure. All kinds of shooting at rapidly moving targets require the marksman to lead the target. When the target is a nearby airplane traveling 600 mph. at right angles to the line of sight, and the bullet has a velocity of only 2000 feet per second, the bullet has to be started at an angle of tan 980/2000, or 29.4", to the line of sight, and this offset can obviously be a continuation of the present path of the target or any other point in a fairly large circular arc having its center at the point where the target is and offset either up or down from the present path of the target. Also, the time factor may allow the target from about A of a second up to 2 or 3 seconds to swerve in some curved maneuver already in process, or to initiate a change of course, and in either case to avoid collision with the projectile.

Table tennis is among the best of sports at present available for cultivating speed and agility, but it lacks the element of unpredictability and of rapid movement in abnormally curved paths. A rebound play in basketball has a high degree of unpredictability but involves an elaborate situation including many participants.

An object of substantially equal importance is to provide for a minimum risk of injury to the players.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan diagram of a court for playing the game called Batellite, including two possible orbits for convenient discussion;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational diagram indicating certain geometrical limitations on the play and two possible orbits, one of which is one of the orbits of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side view of a pole tip with a cord attached to it;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of an object ball and a cord attachment to it;

FIGURE 5 is another modified ball attachment;

FIGURE 6 indicates a satisfactory form of bat in plan view; and

FIGURE 7 is an edge view of the same bat.

According to the embodiment of the invention diagrammed for discussion in FIGURES 1 and 2, a ball of the type illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5 is affixed to one end of a strong but flexible line, preferably of braided nylon with tensile strength of from 25-100 lbs. The ball is impelled by wooden or composition paddles about the 'ice size and weight of ordinary Ping-pong paddles. The other end of the cord is affixed to the top of pole 12 as diagrammed in FIGURE 2, in such a way that travel around the pole will wind the cord so that the ball finally strikes the pole itself. Earlier embodiments of tether ball apparatus of which I have knowledge are comparatively heavy and slow. In my game the curvature of the path of the ball, together with its lightness and elusiveness introduce new dimensions of finesse and challenge to all. At the same time my discovery provides a degree of safety and freedom from injury not found in the older tetherball games.

This feature, plus the unprecedented height of my standard, is particularly important in doubles play wherein .partners occupy quadrants diagonal from one another.

The latter situation calls particularly for non-injuriousness of the ball, which may be kept moving among all four players with great speed and rapid reversal of orbit. In the doubles game, when partners stand cater-corner, the strategy to keep the ball in continuous orbit is quite different from the situation when the partners stand side by side. In the latter situation only one of the players is in good position to hit the ball over the heads of both of his opponents. Thus his partners objective is to bun-t the ball to him in such a way that he can strike it squarely again to send it out of reach of his opponents. The cater corner doubles game calls for hitting the ball over ones 'opponents head and to ones partner, or alternatively, bunting it close beside the pole to ones partner. This form of doubles permits the maximum in faking and in fine control of the ball through team play.

Asuming, for purposes of discussion, a sponge rubber ball of approximately the degree of liveliness possessed by the well-known paddleballs which are affixed to a paddle by a rubber band and batted by the user so that they go away and come back where they can be hit again, and a pole 12 fifteen feet high and a tether long enough to let the ball come within a foot or two of the ground, a brief analysis will indicate the extent to which unpredictability and rapid deviation of path is secured in a game that also permits the exercise of the agility and co-ordination that are the primary qualifications in table tennis.

In FIGURE 2 the ground level is indicated at 14 and the pole 12 rises vertically from it. One position of the ball is indicated at 16 and it will be apparent that a blow downward and toward the pole would drive the ball close beside the pole and cause it to describe anorbit indicated by the complete circle 18, provided it still had speed enough at the top of the circle to have a radial acceleration not less than that of gravity. Any slight deficiency in speed at the top of the circle would permit the ball to curve away from its circular path and become decidedly erratic. Not infrequently such a ball will descend along a dotted line 20 until it returns to the circle 18 at point 22 and then the cord comes taut with a yank and the ball bounces in along some such path as the dotted line 24 and perhaps the same player could hit it at approximately its initial position, but the point to which it returns is at least as erratic as the rebound of a basketball when it strikes the rim of the basket and does not go in.

The players in singles stand on opposite sides of the pole and the player whose turn it is to serve will commonly strike the ball approximately at the point 26. The available terrain around the pole 12 is marked out for singles by a lane 28 and another lane 30 extending in diametrically opposite directions and leaving substantially a half circle available for each player. This separation of the available playing area by a substantial interval of no mans land has an important bearing on preventing risk to the players and assuring desirable tactics and strategy in play.

If, now, the point 26 is substantially identical with the point 16 and the player strikes a ball accurately and with considerable force to drive it in a plane containing the point 16 and the point 29 at the top of the pole, the great circle 18 is replaced by a great circle of the same diameter with its highest point at 30.

In FIGURES 1 and 2 the proportions of the playing ground and equipment are approximately to scale with a pole feet high and safety lanes 28 and 30 thirty inches wide. The height to which a player can reach with his bat by leaping is considerably indefinite on account of the varying size and stature of the players but assuming an average value of about 9 feet as the maximum level at which material accuracy in impelling the ball can easily be obtained that level has been indicated by the dotted line 32 in FIGURE 2. Identifying the resulting orbit through points 16 and 30 by the reference character 34, it will become obvious that only a small fraction of such an orbit is within reach of a player on the ground and that all of the fraction that is within reach of a player on the ground is centered in the area of the server.

For convenience, the quadrants of the playing court in FIGURE 1 are identified by the capital letters A, B, C, and D and in singles the player who serves is free to be anywhere in quadrants C and D and the lane 36 between them. But lanes 30 and 28 segregate him from his opponent and from segments A and B and their dividing lane 38.

As long as the player in areas CD can keep the ball circling in such an orbit the opponent remains a mere spectator, at least until the cord has Wound around the pole down to some such point as the point 40' in FIGURE 2 and at that point the ball begins to become accessible to the player in semicircle AB, at two different points in its orbit. Of these, the point where it returns to semicircle CD is likely to be a little lower and a little easier to judge because each impact received from the player in semicircle CD changes the plane of the orbit and the speed, and the opponent has about three times as much time to get set for the interception of the returning ball, as for the interception of the entering ball.

However this substantial range of complete freedom from interference is only attained by extremely high skill because the ability to strike the returning ball in such a way that it will retain the inclined plane of orbit 34, or substantially that plane, is diflicult to acquire. Only a very tiny deviation in the direction and force of the blow is more than likely to result in an orbit not shown in FIGURE 2 but identified in FIGURE 1 as orbit 42. This orbit may be in a plane as steeply inclined as orbit 34 but its highest point has shifted, or precessed, about 20 to point 44 in FIGURE 1, with its lowest point at 46 in FIGURE 1. This shifts the entire path from 46 to 44 so that a considerable portion of it at and near the point 48 in FIGURE 1 is dangerously close to the opponents semicircle and vulnerable to be intercepted.

The objective, or criterion of victory, is to get the ball wrapped around the pole in the direction employed by the player until the ball hits the pole and the point is won. Simultaneously the opposing player attempts not only to intercept the ball but to get it started going around in the opposite direction and it is not uncommon for such an interception to result in getting the ball into an inclined orbit substantially out of reach of the player who previously had the ball under control, long enough to unwind it completely and start back down again, with the cord wrapping up in the opposite direction, until another interception occurs.

Unless the players are very evenly matched, the game progresses with fair speed until the point of contact of the free line with the pole is down to about 9 feet, and complete freedom from interception is at an end.

There ensues a rapid-fire interchange, as the progressively shortening line increases the curvature of the path and greatly decreases the deviations due to gravitation and increases the apparent deviations due to the cord, and the difficulty in estimating where the ball will be by the time the players paddle has been swung. Quite commonly, after the line contact has come down to 9 feet or 8 feet the speed around the pole will be such that if the player hits the ball hard, it is impossible for him to recover his own stroke in time to hit it again the first time it comes back to him. If he misses it, it nearly always passes into control of his opponent, who tries vigorously to change its direction of travel and the plane of its orbit and get it unwound until he can get it back up the pole.

The nature of the game allows considerable leeway in the choice of equipment for poles and bats, but rather definite limitations with respect to diameter and density for the ball are essential to make the game interesting and to avoid danger of serious injury. A similar game could be attempted with an ordinary golf ball or an ordinary tennis ball but in both instances quite serious injuries would be all too common during the final stages of play and a hard-driven tennis ball or golf ball can always inflict a nasty bruise and occasionally result in a loss of eyesight.

If and when the Batellite game achieves sufiicient popularity to have national championship tournaments, it will be necessary to specify reasonable limits for the diameter and density and yield coefiicient of the ofiicial ball, also, within a defined range of weights and dimensions, the size and weight of the official paddle.

As for the ball, a standard sponge rubber ball of the general type used with paddle-ball toys is satisfactory, but those are made in several qualities and a good quality should be selected.

The technique of play indicates that the essential criterion for the ball is that with the cord completely unwound, a fairly vigorous blow should send the ball entirely around a great circle, with the cord still taut upon return to near the initial position. The availabiltiy, at all times, or orbits in planes inclined to the horizontal up to about or more contributes greatly to variety and interest, and therefore the length of the cord must be correlated with the height of the standard.

Specifically, based on experience to date, the following table indicates practical limits for the ball.

I II III Ball Diameter Weight Comp.

Small, heavy 124 11.3 0.087 Small, light... 1% 8. 1 0.14 Large, heavy 0. 1% 26.0 Large, light 1% 18. 1 as:

Column I shows the diameter of the ball in inches. Column 11 shows weight in grams. Column III shows the flattening under a dead load of 740 grams exerted between opposed parallel flat surfaces. These are practical test criteria which can be easily checked and followed.

All four balls specified above have been found satisfactory in certain types of use. The practical range of sizes is from about one inch to about two inches, and the practical range of densities from about 0.45 to about 0.65. Adults of major athletic prowess prefer the heavier and larger balls.

The paddle Coloring Experience has demonstrated that the speed of the ball is often such that it is difficult for the eye to follow it and that certain colors are a great aid to the eye. Specifically, an orange ball appears to have the best visibility. Under certain circumstances some persons may prefer a patterned ball such as the ball 52 having patterns indicated at 54.

Standards It will be obvious that a pole permanently set in the ground is entirely satisfactory for use in a permanent playground installation, but under many conditions of service portability is desirable. In FIGURE 2 I have indicated a vertical pole feet high made in three fivefoot sections, a bottom section 57, a mid-section 58, and a top section 60, with telescoping joints so that it can be separated into three parts for moving from place to place. This can obviously be set in a socket in the ground, or the socket may be in a fairly heavy base of sufficient diameter to provide stable support.

Some variation in timing results from varying the diameter of the pole. A bottom section and a middle section 1" in diameter, with a top either /2" or enables the user to play a relatively short game with the larger top section and a longer game with the /2 top section. The range of suitable standard heights for persons of various statures and degrees of athletic prowess is from about 8 feet up to about feet.

The playing court In FIGURE 1 I have indicated radial lanes 28 and 30 for playing singles and two more radial lanes 36 and 38 subdividing the circle into four equal parts. A material neutral zone is needed for each playing lane, as distinguished from a mere line of demarcation and, depending on the age and prowess of the users, the dividing lanes for singles are from about 24 to 42 inches wide. Such lanes for either singles or doubles can be varied in width in a desirable way to impose a reasonable handicap when a tall player with a long reach plays against a younger or smaller player. Thus persons of maximum height and reach might be required to stay back of the dot and dash lines 28-4 while other players in the same singles game or foursome would observe the dotted lines 28-2, or the full lines 28.

The tension cord The tension cord 56 may be any one of many convenient varieties of fish line or equivalent tension cord. A braided nylon fish line rated at fifty pounds is quite satisfactory for regular use. In FIGURE 3 I have indicated the upper end 62 of the top section 60 of the standard flattened and apertured at 64 and the end of the cord may be aflixed by a simple knot 66. This attachment is found quite reliable in making the cord wrap around the standard without slipping over the upper end of the standard.

The ball receives violent impact repeatedly, but the sponge rubber sphere itself seems to have a surprisingly long life. However the attachment of the ball to the line presents a problem. In FIGURE 4 I have indicated the cord 56 passing downwardly through the ball at 68 and a short distance across the bottom at 70 and then up again at 72, and this affords a fairly durable and suitable connection for ordinary service. In play, the cord 56, within six or twelve inches of the ball itself, is apt to be subjected to rubbing contact with the edge of the paddle and with a single strand this becomes the weakest point in the chain. The endurance can be multiplied by 5 or 10 by using two or three strands in parallel as indicated in FIGURE 4 at 74 and this multiple strand may extend about 12 inches or so from the ball.

For extremely heavy duty, and perhaps for championship play, FIGURE 5 shows a ball 76 in which one strand of cord goes through downward at 78 and back up at 80 and another strand goes down and up in a plane at right angles to that of the first two strands as indicated at 82. This greatly increases the amount of service that can be had before the cord begins to cut or tear the rubber. With four strands coming up from the ball I have indicated a braided length at 84, which is somewhat more expensive to manufacture but affords greater resistance to being abraded and eventually cut by the edge of the paddle.

Others may readily adapt the invention for use under various conditions of service by employing one or more of the novel features disclosed, or equivalents thereof. As at present advised, with respect to the apparent scope of my invention, I desire to claim the following subject matter:

1. Equipment for playing a competitive light athletic game requiring dexterity and agility, comprising, in combination: a vertical standard 8 to 20 feet high; a tension cord of minimum diameter and wind resistance; one end of said cord being nonrotatably afiixed to said standard adjacent its upper end; a ball aflixed to the other end of said cord and adapted to circle the point of contact between cord and standard and wrap or unwrap said cord,

depending on the direction of its orbital travel; said cord being less in length than the height of its point of attachment to said standard; impelling implements adapted to be held for striking by one hand only; each implement having two ball-contacting striking areas facing in opposite directions; said ball having a diameter not greater than about two inches and not less than about one inch; said ball having a density not greater than about 0.65 and not less than about 0.45; said ball yielding on impact by an impelling implement, with a local distortion having a load-distortion function about that of a sponge rubber sphere of uniform density of about 0.5; and at least approximately even and level playing terrain around said standard extending radially in all directions; and means subdividing said terrain into an even number of equal sectors not exceeding four, separated from each other by radial foul lanes of substantial width; said subdividing means defining a plurality of alternative sets of lanes of ditferent Width for use by players of different stature or ability; whereby the playing area available to the player of superior stature or ability may be less than that available to the player of lesser ability.

2. Equipment according to claim 1 in which said cord is long enough to wrap spirally around said standard down into a lower zone of substantial vertical extent, in which lower zone an orbit over the adjacent sector and out of reach of an opposing player in said adjacent sector is no longer available; whereby the game strategy in the final, lower zone is compelled to be of a materially different nature from the beginning game strategy in the higher zone.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 786,997 4/ 1905 Rosenthal 273- 1,608,849 11/ 1926 Gilmour 273-95 2,496,795 2/1950 Johnson 273-95 2,577,690 12/1951 Reach 273-176 2,686,054 8/ 1954 Coroniti 273-51 3,218,073 11/1965 Frost 273-95 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,316,872 12/1962 France.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Examiner. 

1. EQUIPMENT FOR PLAYING A COMPETITIVE LIGHT ATHLETIC GAME REQUIRING DEXTERITY AND AGILITY, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A VERTICAL STANDARD 8 TO 20 FEET HIGH; A TENSION CORD OF MINIMUM DIAMETER AND WIND RESISTANCE; ONE END OF SAID CORD BEING NONROTATABLY AFFIXED TO SAID STANDARD ADJACENT ITS UPPER END; A BALL AFFIXED TO THE OTHER END OF SAID CORD AND ADAPTED TO CIRCLE THE POINT OF CONTACT BETWEEN CORD AND STANDARD AND WRAP OR UNWRAP SAID CORD, DEPENDING ON THE DIRECTION OF ITS ORBITAL TRAVEL; SAID CORD BEING LESS IN LENGTH THAN THE HEIGHT OF ITS POINT OF ATTACHMENT TO SAID STANDARD; IMPELLING IMPLEMENTS ADAPTED TO BE HELD FOR STRIKING BY ONE HAND ONLY; EACH IMPLEMENT HAVING TWO BALL-CONTACTING STRIKING AREAS FACING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS; SAID BALL HAVING A DIAMETER NOT GREATER THAN ABOUT TWO INCHES AND TWO LESS THAN ABOUT ONE INCH; SAID BALL HAVING A DENSITY NOT GREATER THAN ABOUT 0.65 AND NOT LESS THAN ABOUT 0.45; SAID BALL YIELDING ON IMPACT BY AN IMPELLING IMPLEMENT, WITH A LOCAL DISTORTION HAVING A LOAD-DISTORTION FUNCTION ABOUT THAT OF A SPONGE RUBBER SPHERE OF UNIFORM DENSITY OF ABOUT 0.5; AND AT LEAST APPROXIMATELY EVEN AND LEVEL PLAYING TERRAIN AROUND SAID STANDARD EXTENDING RADIALLY IN ALL DIRECTIONS; AND MEANS SUBDIVIDING SAID TERRAIN INTO AN EVEN NUMBER OF EQUAL SECTORS NOT EXCEEDING FOUR, SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER BY RADIAL FOUL LANES OF SUBSTANTIAL WIDTH; SAID SUBDIVIDING MEANS DEFINING A PLURALITY OF ALTERNATIVE SETS OF LANES OF DIFFERENT WIDTH FOR USE BY PLAYERS OF DIFFERENT STATURE OR ABILITY; WHEREBY THE PLAYING AREA AVAILABLE TO THE PLAYER OF SUPERIOR STATURE OR ABILITY MAY BE LESS THAN THAT AVAILABLE TO THE PLAYER OF LESSER ABILITY. 